As if the allegedly worrying situation of HomePod was not enough, Apple is apparently facing certain problems in another related segment of the market: that of smart homes.
According to a report by The Information, Ma represented by products based on the protocol HomeKit it was, until two years ago, the favorite option of companies specializing in the construction of smart homes (yes, apparently this is a growing market in the United States), but it has been left aside in favor of guess what Amazon, with its most “universal” and accessible solutions, in general.
One of the examples brought by the subject is that of Lennar, one of the largest smart home builders in the country. At 2016, Apple maintained a successful partnership with the real estate, which equipped its homes with products equipped with the HomeKit protocol; over the past two years, however, the company has decided to prioritize Amazon and employ ubiquitous Alexa connected products. Other construction companies, such as Meritage Homes and Shea Homes, followed similar paths, considering a partnership with Apple but ultimately opting for the giant Jeff Bezos.
One of the main reasons for the preference is the assistance service offered by Amazon, with the so-called Amazon Experts, it is a team of professionals from the company that provides consultancy to builders and, later, to home owners, showing options of products equipped with Alexa, following the final stages of the works, suggesting solutions and ensuring that everything is working wonderfully. Apple does not have a similar service.
Furthermore, builders no longer welcome Apple's extremely closed and impenetrable ecosystem, preferring to adopt more flexible solutions like Amazon's. As Meritage Homes Vice President, CR Herro stated:
Apple is a closed source when it comes to talking to their system, so we move away from that. I don't want to restrict myself to what I think the future might be, because I have no idea what the future will be.
It is good to note that some companies in the industry have not yet fully embraced Amazon for privacy reasons: Kasita, for example, has argued that offering all aspects of a home to a company that profits from basically everything you buy online is not the best of business. Even so, these companies are not preferring Apple to Kasita, maintaining the same example, they intend to create their own home control ecosystem instead of relying on other companies.
Certainly, a challenge for Apple. Is the case of opening this system more to a greater adhesion of manufacturers or the current closed model the most secure and attractive for consumers? That, only time will tell.
via iPhone Hacks
